Instagram has suspended scores of popular ‘meme’ accounts that collectively have tens of millions of followers, during a mass purge of the platform. The move was met with shock and anger by users.
The cull was carried out on Friday with no warning to users other than an email to tell the account holders that they had been suspended. One, @Finest.Inventions, claimed more than 13 million followers alone.
Instagram told disgruntled users that the accounts were removed for “not following our terms” without providing more specific details on infractions. “We’re unable to restore accounts that are suspended for this reason,” the notice reportedly stated.
A teenager named Caige whose two suspended accounts, @yerdank and @autist, boasted more than 850,000 followers, said he had made over $30,000 so far this year from the pages.
Many users took to Twitter to condemn the #memepurge and call for Facebook, which owns Instagram, to reinstate the beloved comedy accounts. Some, however, were less sympathetic and accused the Instagrammers of benefiting from other people’s work.
Instagram updated their account disable policy just last week to “detect and remove accounts that repeatedly violate our policies.” However it’s not clear which policy the spate of suspended accounts violated.
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